This section tells you more about famous French artists: singers, actors, writers, poets or painters.<\/p>\n
Philippe Katerine, known simply as \u201cKaterine\u201d in France, is a French singer-songwriter, artist and author, best known for his boundary pushing music.<\/p>\n
With his offbeat lyrics and kitsch costumes that would put Austin Powers to shame, Katerine is gyrating proof that the French can do irony after all.<\/p>\n
In his years in the music business he\u2019s progressed from easy listening to electro pop.<\/p>\n
The 44-year-old, who comes from the commune of Chantonnay in the Vend\u00e9e department of Pays de la Loire in western France, has also directed and starred in films and written a book.<\/p>\n
Why is he in the news?<\/strong><\/p>\n His new song \u2018Sexy Cool\u2019 \u2013 released earlier this month \u2013 was this week declared France\u2019s \u201csummer dance anthem\u201d by the French media.<\/p>\n The track, which features on the pop star\u2019s forthcoming ninth album \u2018Magnum\u2019 to be released on October 14th, is an ironic summer music video in which Katerine sings about how \u201csexy\u201d and \u201ccool\u201d he is.<\/p>\n Tell me more about him.<\/strong><\/p>\n Unsurprisingly, Katerine is no stranger to strange headlines.<\/p>\n In April 2012, the artist experimented in a new form of artistic expressionism when he was invited by the upmarket Paris-based department store Galeries Lafayette to display his artwork in an exhibition entitled \u2018Comme un ananas\u2019 (\u2018Like a pineapple\u2019).<\/p>\n In 2011, the artist also made a splash when he published the book \u2018Doublez votre m\u00e9moire\u2019(\u2018Double your memory\u2019) under the alias Philippe Bouchard. Presented as a kind of artistic diary, the book is described by its editor as \u201ca unique work, worthy of the best artist notebooks\u201d consisting of \u201cnarcissistic inspirations and schoolboy outbursts\u201d.<\/p>\n Since 2000, Katerine has also acted in many films and even directed two of his own.<\/p>\n So what\u2019s so sexy and cool about \u2018Sexy Cool\u2019?<\/strong><\/p>\n Well perhaps it’s the cheesy dance routine, the catchy lyrics as well the 70s costumes and mustache.<\/p>\n If you find yourself on a dance floor in a French disco this summer you will probably here these lyrics: “Je suis cool quand t’es cool\/Je suis triste quand t’es triste\/Je suis stress quand tu stresses\/Je suis sexy quand tu es sexy”. In other words: “I’m cool when you’re cool\/I’m sad when you’re sad\/I’m stressed when your stressed\/I’m sexy when you’re sexy” (in case you want to sing along).<\/p>\n What about the other tracks on the album?<\/strong><\/p>\n Another cheesy delight is \u2018Banane\u2019 (below), featuring Katerine parading around on a beach holding a banana dressed in nothing but a white sheet as he sings: \u201cNo, leave me\/To eat my banana naked on the beach\u201d. In another scene hundreds of people dance along to the tune whilst waving a banana in the air.<\/p>\n Again it’s better to let you watch the video for yourselves.<\/p>\n What does he have to say for himself?<\/strong><\/p>\n Why don\u2019t we let this translation of a typically, shall we say unsophisticated, extract from another single on his upcoming album, \u2018Eff\u00e9min\u00e9\u2019, speak for itself?<\/p>\n \u201cWith my big b***s\/I go to the casino\/With my big b***s\/I buy myself a Kinder Bueno\/With my big b***s\/I call my beloved\/She laughs\/Because I\u2019m effeminate.\u201d<\/p>\n What do others say about him?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cPhilippe Katerine has forced us to become accustomed to his style, by flouting all conventions, fluctuating between total nonsense and misunderstood genius,\u201d wrote Le Figaro newspaper.<\/p>\n After all, says the paper, \u201cwho can boast of having dared as much as Katerine to push and play with the borders of pop which are all too often sterilized and formatted,\u201d adding \u201cYou could dance all night [to his songs] if the lyrics weren\u2019t so crude.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This section tells you more about famous French artists: singers, actors, writers, poets or painters. Do you know Philippe Katerine? Philippe Katerine, known simply as \u201cKaterine\u201d in France, is a French singer-songwriter, artist and author, best known for his boundary pushing music. With his offbeat lyrics and kitsch costumes that would put Austin Powers to shame, Katerine is gyrating proof that the French can do irony after all. In his years in the music business he\u2019s progressed from easy listening to electro pop. The 44-year-old, who comes from the commune of Chantonnay in the Vend\u00e9e department of Pays de la […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-video"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3oReK-iR","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/french-academy.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/french-academy.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/french-academy.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/french-academy.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/french-academy.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1169"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/french-academy.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1172,"href":"https:\/\/french-academy.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1169\/revisions\/1172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/french-academy.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/french-academy.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/french-academy.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}